Children of the Sky
by Gibelyou
Summary: When hostile aliens attack Earth, the Senshi must band together with the best our planet has to offer!
1. Chapter 1

So apparently there is this rumor going around that I own the original works. All I have to say to that is, you should know better than to listen to rumors like that... That was how the whole Taco Incident happened. Wait, that wasn't you? um...I said nothing?

Quick note before I begin, this story was inspired by the brilliant Road to Cydonia. If you have not read this yet, do so.

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><p>In a room that was both there and not, removed from the normal flow of spacetime, Sailor Pluto stood watching her post. As guardian of the Gates of Time it was her job to prevent anyone from disrupting the timeline. "No time travel" was the first rule, though it had been broken more than once. It wasn't that the timeline couldn't handle it, more that the law of unintended consequences and of course Murphey's law made it very dangerous to do so. Even if you had the Gates to help you plan, not all effects of a decision could be foreseen. The rules said nothing however about looking at the future possibilities and planning ahead.

Now the time had come, as she knew it would, when the Princess would have to grow up. Pluto had put this off as long as she could safely do so, as her Princess's happiness was a treasure to her. "All good things…" she murmured to herself, double-checking the next day's encounter. Sighing softly, Pluto allowed herself a wry smile, 'She will not be pleased I kept this from her.' After her preparations were complete, she raised her staff and teleported to Earth. It was time to go to war.

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><p>High above the Aleutian Islands, a small circular craft moved silently across the sky. Originally drawn to this world by a distress call from a ship that had crashed, It's masters had found a gem of a world. Teeming with life suitable for their purposes, primitive enough to be little trouble to conquer, the blue-green world below would fall in mere months. Laughing at the attempts at detection by the native's reflective scanners, the single occupant of the Scout class saucer carried out his mission with almost mechanical efficiency. It had the run of the planet, having scouted a half-dozen base locations already today. The next phase was beginning.<p>

The alarm that sounded was only loud enough to draw the pilot's attention, glancing up from his survey scan he hesitated briefly over what he saw. It shouldn't have been possible. The primitive scanners the natives used had actually penetrated his stealth fields. How had THAT happened? Calling up the local airspace on his screens, the pilot was relieved that he would be able to finish his survey before the nearest aircraft could intercept. His mission would be completed, his data transmitted. After that it didn't matter what happened to him.

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><p>The early afternoon sun filtered through the trees of the outer grounds of the Hikawa shrine. Cold and dry, the late January weather had been calm of late. The extra warmth gained from climbing the stairs to the shrine proper from the street below helped keep the three girls warm as they chatted amongst themselves. All in all a small group of girls visiting this shrine was not an uncommon sight, charms sold at this shrine had a better reputation than most at being effective and young girls were always looking for a little help on exams or with boys. This particular group of girls was not here for charms however.<p>

The tallest of the three was a brunette with her hair done in a ponytail. A yellow sweater and long pants were joined by a thicker blue jacket to stave off the cold. Her steps were assured, and showed no sign that the heavy basket of food she carried was anything more than a light load. Her bright blue eyes sparkled with amusement as her companions related a story from the day before.

Speaking animatedly, her blond friend reached the end of her story. Her long hair was tied in the middle with a ribbon, and it swayed with the motions of her arms as the tale of the misadventures of one Usagi Tsukino and PE class. Bright blue eyes sparkle with mirth as giggling broke out among the trio.

The third girl's laughter was more subdued than that of her companions. There was almost a resigned side to it, as though this was not something she felt she should be laughing at. Her short hair was an astounding shade of blue. This was something that her mother, a doctor, had been unable to explain. It had, in past years, caused her teachers to think that she would be a troublemaker…until the first assignments were handed in.

Reaching the top of the steps and crossing under the large arch, the three girls headed not to the shrine proper, but to the house of the resident caretakers. A tall girl with knee length black hair and dressed in the traditional robes of a Miko was sweeping the front porch as they approached. Hearing the three call to her she looks up from her daily chores and smiles widely. With a wave she directs the three girls to join her inside and opens the door. Over the next thirty minutes more girls would arrive and be shown inside as well.

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><p>Usagi Tsukino was late. This was not unusual. What WAS unusual was it actually wasn't her fault. One of her mother's cousins had come by the house quite unexpectedly that morning, and Usagi had been guilted into playing hostess by her mother. Boy did her mother know how to guilt. She was going to have to talk to Ami too, she'd been forced to promise her mother a passing grade in math to be released to go "visit her friends". Luna wasn't around when she left, probably having gone on ahead. She supposed that made sense, it hadn't looked like she would get away at the time.<p>

When she did arrive, breathing heavily from the run up the shrine steps, She found the group ad split off along fairly predictable lines. Makoto had set up the food she had brought and was sittind at the central table sipping tea with Ami and Minako. Rei was seated at the far end of the table with a small plate of food. Haruka and Michiru were sitting on the couch that sat against the left wall, and Hotaru was seated in front of them blissfully eating a slice of cake. Luna, having indeed gone ahead to let everyone know Usagi might not make it, was sitting on the corner of the table nearest Rei along with Artemis. "Sorry….Mom's cousin…got out…soon as I could." Panting after every few words, Usagi slumped down next to Rei and began making a plate of food while Makoto poured her a cup of tea. "Thanks Mako-chan!" Usagi beamed at her friend.

No sooner has she taken the mug from Makoto's hands than Setsuna teleported behind her and spoke in a mild tone, "Hello Princess." Deftly moving to the left to avoid the splash of tea from the startled girl in front of her, Setsuna's only reaction to the deadly glare was a small smile.

"STOP DOING THAT PLUTO!" Usagi's Shout seemed to fall on deaf ears as Setsuna turned to face the others on the couch. She was closer to Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru not just because she lived with them, but because they were a team. Their role (as Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn respectively) was the defense of the solar system against outside threats. If they had been at their original levels of power from the Silver Millennium this new threat wouldn't have been a problem, but as things were…it could get complicated.

Maintaining an expression of complete calm, Setsuna nodded towards her teammates, "Thank you for coming as well. None of you are going to be happy about what I have to say today. I will admit to putting this off for some time." Turning once again to Usagi, "Princess we are being invaded by Aliens from outside the solar system."

The reaction to this simple sentence was surprisingly varied. Most of the girls seated at the table wore shocked expressions, The blue haired Ami being the exception. Ami's face was relaxed in patient thoughtfulness. Hotaru was scared, but looked at Setsuna with complete trust. Michiru was also relaxed and serene, although she usually looked like that anyways. It took a lot to shake her. Haruka on the other hand was furious. "Why are you just NOW telling us about this. This is our JOB, we don't need to involve them" this with a wave of her hand at the younger girls at the table, "we could have handled this ourselves!"

Allowing a small amount of resignation to show on her face Setsuna turned to her teammate, "No, we can't. If the Royal Navy was at it's peak then perhaps we could, not a guarantee mind you, but with just the four of us? We would die within a month." A facial tick was developing on Haruka, and Hotaru was letting more of her concern show, "Even with the help of the Princess and her guardians we will not last the year without more help. These creatures are not like the other threats we have faced. They will not come to us, as Japan is but a corner of the world to them. We cannot be everywhere, even with the Sailor Teleport." Fuming and looking to the side Haruka began muttering under her breath. Ami had opened her Mercury computer and was taking notes.

"When will the invasion begin, Setsuna?" All eyes turned to Ami in surprise as her voice betrayed no fear at the prospect of facing another enemy. It reassured them to see the calm resolve on her face.

Sighing Setsuna gave a small shrug and replied, "Actually it began three weeks ago, or at least the scouting missions did. Until now there was nothing we could really do about it so I let you enjoy life. Without the resources of the Moon Kingdom we are forced to fight on the ground. The aliens have spacecraft of enormous power and speed. Fortunately the military technology of this time is somewhat effective against them."

This last statement reversed the sinking expression on Usagi's face. "So, we let them handle it! If we can't stop their ships then we can't do anything right?" This earned her Doom Glares from the rest of the "Inners" at the table.

Rei's face was red as she leaned over the table and shouted, "You COWARD, we can NOT sit by and do nothing about this. Show some backbone for once meatball head!" Rage gone as quickly as it arrived, she turned thoughtful, "So, what can we do?"

Pointedly ignoring Usagi's outburst over Rei's yelling, Setsuna cocked her head slightly to one side, "The alien goals are not clear, but I do see several ground battles over the course of the war. And make no mistake girls, this IS war. Right now the enemy has the upper hand. I can't get much on them with the gates, their psionic powers are scrambling my scrying."

Usagi's outburst seemed to vanish as she stared wide eyed at the princess of Pluto. 'She never called it war before, attacks yes, enemies always…never war.' Still unsure what was going to make this different from the past, the blond sat in a rare moment of quiet thought. The rest of the table began to discuss the issue at length. Most of the girls were convinced it was serious simply by the fact that Setsuna was giving them straight answers, in fact it was agreed among the inners that this was a sure sign of the apocalypse.

'If they only knew how close they could be to right.' Pluto thought.

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><p>On the other side of the world a meeting was taking place in the basement of a bank. Well it looked like a bank, and in fact you could deposit money there and hold accounts. It was not just a bank however. First international bank of New York was a front institution for the UN security council. It was used when the council needed to discuss things best kept from the world as a whole. In this case the results of intercepting an unidentified Bogey over the Aleutian Islands the week before. More specifically what had been decided to be done about it.<p>

A fully autonomous UN task force had been formed, the United Nations Xenobiological Defense Command. This was a team with the mandate to keep unwanted extraterrestrial involvement in the affairs of earth. The twenty nations that were cleared to know about this potential enemy were quite adamant that this battle be as far below the public's perceptions as possible, that they had insisted on a single base and complete operational secrecy, even towards the governments of the nations of the UN that were not a part of this expanded security council. In return the director of this program, a General in the USAF who was officially retiring by the name of Weber, would be allowed to select soldiers from the top military traditions of the entire world. Scientists from the top institutions, including those already working on top secret projects, were made available to the new team. Glances around the table spoke clearly, nobody thought it would be enough.

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><p>Monday morning came as it normally did. For all the predictions of doom from the meeting the day before, you couldn't tell the world was in peril. Students went to school, adults went to work, and the world continued oblivious to the recent events. Ami's Monday was less normal. She found herself in a quandary she had never before encountered. Having completed the next two months worth of homework in advance, she found herself reluctant to make further headway into her studies. Thoughts of the last meeting and it's topic weighed heavily on her mind.<p>

It wasn't that she didn't feel it worth preparing for her future, nor did she believe there wouldn't be one. They had faced the end of all they knew before and come out on top. The feeling that the world was on the line fueled their efforts to defend it. They had fought enemies with unknown goals, and powers before. In fact nothing that they knew of made this any different than before, 'so why did Setsuna make such a point of mentioning it,' she mused, 'and why didn't she say when we would be fighting?'

The ringing of the bell to begin class interrupted her thoughts and brought her back to the present. 'I suppose I have enough to do now without borrowing trouble,' was her last comment on the matter before settling in for the morning lessons.

Morning also came to a run-down airstrip in the northwestern United States. The Hanford Nuclear Waste Storage Depot was the most secret base in the American military. What better cover than a site that had to be guarded, but was not safe to visit, or at least that's what they told everyone… Underground was not, as had been published, cylinders of nuclear waste from the decommissioning of cold-war era missiles. Instead a compact facility designed to ensure chain of command during a doomsday scenario was hidden. It had been thought that nobody would bother to target a site that had no outward sign of being useful to anyone.

Chinese Intelligence had not been fooled. It had come as quite a surprise to the American representative of the X-com budget meeting when his Chinese counterpart, a woman named Mei Li, had said that use of the top secret facility as the first base of operations was a requirement for Chinese funding. The cat already out of the bag, and thus the usefulness of the site compromised (it hadn't helped that the Chinese had made this demand in open deliberations and thus revealed the secret to all interested parties) the United States quickly agreed this site would be used for the X-COM HQ.

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><p>Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Zheng, Army Corp of Engineers, was a 5 foot 2 inch fourth generation Chineese American. Building things was in his blood. His great-grandfather had come to the United States as a young boy to help build the railroads in the "Great Northwest", his grandfather had built up the cities of Tacoma and Seattle, his father had built bridges and hydroelectric dams, and now he was building anything and everything Uncle Sam required. It was a fine tradition and he was proud to uphold it. It even looked like his eldest son was getting into Aeronautical engineering.<p>

This latest project was interesting. He'd never built an aircraft carrier before, but the massive elevating platforms they used to bring planes to the flight deck were the basis for the work he was doing today. The brass hadn't explained WHY they needed to be able to bring a plane topside from an underground hanger, but then the brass never explained anything. They said dig, and he dug. They hadn't even told him where he was, the drive in being done in a blacked out transport. This sort of treatment screamed "You-Don't-Want-To-Know." In truth, he really didn't care. He was given a set of plans and told to make it a reality. They were pretty posh quarters they were building down there too, almost double the standard barracks size. Whoever pulled this duty assignment was going to be living in the lap of luxury, well for a soldier anyways. Still nobody would be living there until his crew finished building the damn thing.

'I still wish they had given me more time to finish. We are having to cut safety margins to the bone to make the deadline we were handed. I'll grant we're the best, but the last thing I want is for any of my boys to get hurt.' Noticing the large cargo trucks pulling up to the site, he headed off to the inevitable paperwork. 'Another day in the Corp...' he mused to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm not silly enough to try to lay claim to either Sailor Moon or X-Com. For one thing pretty much anything in either world could kick my butt, and in this world, I can't afford to buy the rights. Too bad really, I'd love to see a properly done X-Com sequel.

A great deal of human wisdom is attributed to be what "they" say. Who these mysterious people known as "They" are, nobody seems to know. It must be agreed however, that "They" seem to know what they are talking about. Mamoru Chibia, mild mannered Japanese college student, was waiting for word from his girlfriend. Normally an intimidating enough prospect, but in this case the topic he was waiting to hear about was in and of itself shaking his calm. It had been hard enough to concentrate on his studies during the time since Setsuna dropped her latest bombshell on the team. The news last week that they should be ready at a moments notice for an emergency teleport to the site of the first major strike had brought everyone's nerves just shy of the breaking point. She had at least had the decency to apologize, knowing that (as "They" say) Waiting is the hardest part. It had certainly been hard on his grades. This late in the classes, he wasn't in any danger of failing, but this was Japan. Academic achievement was a large part of his future career prospects. Well, before the whole ruling the world thing at least.

That was still a strange prospect to him. Even if he really only ends up in the position because of who he fell in love with, even if that love was inherited from their past lives, he never really felt that this was a good enough reason to be a king. He really wasn't comfortable as the center of attention. He didn't feel that his studies in medicine qualified him to make life or death decisions. Granted that is what a doctor did, but it was so small scale in comparison to what his glimpse of the future told him he would be doing. Maybe it was the fact that he spent so much time with the younger friends of his love that kept him from feeling ready for adulthood.

Shaking his head at his woolgathering, he returned to his studies on human anatomy.

Criteria had been selected. Targets had been chosen. A list of many was narrowed to one. Orders were sent. The alien Mind was pleased. The new harvest had begun. This world would serve.

Captain Davidson stood to one side of the tarmac watching his platoon form up. The team had been assembled at oh dark thirty in the morning and told to ship out. Details had been withheld. 'Typical Black Ops shit,' He thought to himself. 'I suppose we're lucky they told us it would be an extended deployment.' His keen eyes never stopped watching his soldiers. It was something of a tradition that he berate their formation before a deployment. Sargent MacKenzie had relayed to him that the men felt if he ever passed their formation without a correction it would be the end of the world. Since that would be tempting fate a little too much for his tastes, he always found something to correct. It was a point of pride that he never invented a reason to correct his troops. Marching forwards, he zeroed in on Private Johanson. His uniform's alignment was off enough that he was winner of the dubious honor of first tirade.

Nikolai Petrov was cold. This didn't really bother him so much. He was frequently cold while based in the mountains. He had taken the steps he needed to. Anything else was just a complaint. His helicopter was late. Again, this didn't really bother him so much. It had been sent for him. It was taking him to a plane that was for him. It would not leave without him, and so he would not miss it. And so he waited, with his large bag on one side, and a metallic case on the other.

His briefing had been sparse. The most interesting part was that the American's had kept the base from the KGB the whole Cold War, and nobody had even suspected. Well at least nobody that had told him. His Spetznaz career was celebrated, by those few cleared to know of it. As such he had been sent on missions around the world where no-one was to know of his existence. This had not, strictly speaking, changed. His employers had. He had been informed that he was being transferred to an elite unit based out of America under the direction of the UN. He was not told what they were going to do while there.

Rumors on the other hand, were plentiful. Gossip was often the most common trade item on remote bases like this. News of the outside world would often command such lofty prices as free drinks and cigarettes. What whispers had trickled out of Moscow were interesting, if they could be believed. Aliens. 'If this had been reported thirty years ago, we would have blamed the Americans for it. Now we take their word about a confrontation we could have seen ourselves then.' This also, did not bother him, he would see the truth for himself soon enough.

Alarms have one thing in common. No matter how it sounds, it is designed to reach inside your spine and grab your attention. In this particular case, the alarm was accompanied by a Voice on the PA system declaring that this was not a drill. That was what really got people at the Hanford base moving. The alert interceptors launched, and received priority clearance through American airspace. This was the third sighting of a UFO over the American Midwest. It was the first time they had been ready to do anything about it. Screaming across the sky, a mere thirty meters above the ground, a pair of high performance fighters hope to be missed among the terrain as they approach. This one is bigger than the one they had been briefed on, probably not a single pilot craft. Orders are confirmed with command, Terminate with extreme prejudice.

The lead fighter rises rapidly into the air, gaining a clean shot at the underside of the alien craft. With a transmission of "Condor one, Fox two!" a missile flares to life on the left sing and accelerates forward at extreme speed. The alien craft doesn't seem to notice their presence until it's flight profile is rocked by the midair explosion. With an unnatural suddenness the circular craft alters direction and speed. A second missile flies past, failing to turn fast enough to catch up. Both planes turn to pursue the fleeing vessel. A green beam flares into existence, passing between the fighters and narrowly avoided by both pilots as it tries to tag them in vain. Their engines flare brighter as they begin to close with their foe. Cannon shells fly forwards, bright tracers showing the pilots how to adjust their attack. Their target drops a hundred meters and changes direction without turning. The planes bank to follow, and one is clipped by the return fire. Trailing smoke, the lead craft drops back and takes the wing of it's follower. A tone is followed by another launch of missiles. The saucer pops up in an attempt to evade, but the move is made too soon. The missiles are able to follow their prey, and a large explosion is seen as the craft drops like a stone. A confident "Bogey is down" is relayed back to the mission command room of Hanford base, and the two planes alter course for home.

Sailor Pluto gazed into the viewer that was her link to the outside world. On her screen the X-COM retrieval team had just finished securing the crash site for salvaging. The battle was won, but three soldiers had been taken down by the aliens who survived the crash. Ambushing with a grenade will do that. 'Good,' she thought to herself, 'I think this group will work out. I can't see much of the next few years, but they seem competent enough. Now I just have to hold a little ceremony and we will be ready to meet them.' with a slight glow from her staff the viewer clears. Pluto's image shimmers at the edges before disappearing completely.

Makoto Kino reflected on what a blessing it was to have friends. Before her transfer to Juuban Jr. High, she could count the number of friends she had on one hand. In part, it was because her height and the jealousy that came from having developed her breasts very early. This had led to fighting, both the subtle sniping of school politics and the more direct physical confrontations of schoolyard bullies. These fights had lead to another part of her lack of friends, repeated school transfers. It was hard always being the "new girl". Especially when the first impressions inevitably lead to comments about her height and jealousy over her breasts again. Even without the Senshi connection, she liked to think that Usagi would have made the effort anyways. She had heard the story of how Ami first met Usagi, and while it was shortly afterwords that she had been awoken as Sailor Mercury, Makoto couldn't shake the feeling that their leader would have spent time with her regardless. In a way she wished she had had the time to find out for herself. She had no regrets about how things had happened and she had never felt like the only reason her friends spent time with her was because of their shared secrets, but she would always wonder if she would have met them without it. Still, the past couldn't be changed. Well, it could but she doubted she would get Setsuna to let her for something as unimportant as her own curiosity.

The blessings of the moment lay in the fact that her friends were making for an excellent distraction from the knot in her stomach. It was, once again, Senshi meeting time. Without specific information about these aliens that were supposed to attack, the meeting had devolved into the usual gossip and banter. Setsuna had yet to even arrive, though her housemates were here. If she closed her eyes she could almost imagine that it was just another day. They would talk about nothing of importance, eat the snacks she had brought along, and then Ami would get everyone to spend an hour or more on schoolwork. She didn't mind the help, Ami was so far ahead most times that she would spend as much time as was needed helping the other girls where they were stuck.

A loud "EEP" jolted her out of her imaginings. Opening her eyes she noticed Setsuna standing where Usagi had been, and Usagi on the other side of the room blushing and yelling at Setsuna to"Stop DOING that!" Everyone else had taken Setsuna's arrival as a signal to quiet down and focus. Seeing that Usagi quickly did the same, crossing the room with an unconvincing glare at Setsuna and settling back in her spot next to Mamoru.

Setsuna wasted no time in beginning. "I have been watching the UN's response to the alien threat, and it seems they have chosen well. They have formed an international team of soldiers mixing Special Ops teams from every nation, with support from various other organizations. The base is in America, but that shouldn't be too much of an obstacle with our ability to teleport. There are a couple of things we have to do before we meet them however." At this Setsuna briefly glanced around the room before looking Usagi in the eyes. "First, the Princess will have to claim her throne, if only in name." Setsuna paused, and it was well she did so. Nothing she said after that statement would have been heard over the cacophony of questions that it spawned. It was impossible to tell what had been said, and Makoto supposed that her own cry of surprise hadn't helped matters. Setsuna's arched eyebrow quieted most of the room, and she continued to explain. "We will need the legal fiction of the Moon Kingdom to sell our involvement to the leaders of Earth's military forces. This is also why we will not simply arrange a meeting. We will respond to an attack that I believe will happen soon on a major city. Their response team will see what we can do firsthand, and that will establish us far better as effective warriors than anything else we could do. Usagi's coronation will provide us with the authority to influence decisions that will allow us to use all our skills to defend the Earth."

Looking around Makoto saw that most of the room was as puzzled by this explanation as she was. She understood the part about showing them what they could do, but how would Usagi being a queen rather than a princess matter to anyone. It wasn't like there was a Kingdom to be queen of besides the people in this room. Even after saying that, in this life they were all citizens of Japan. Ami was looking thoughtful, and Mamoru was nodding slowly. Had they figured it out? Raising her hand she interrupted Setsuna, "Ummm, why does that matter?" Setsuna didn't look at all annoyed at this question. That made Makoto feel better about having to ask.

"Because while the Japanese government was made aware of the invasion and is supporting the response financially, They cannot provide troops due to the JSDF mandate to never operate on foreign soil. In light of this they have decided not to send any personnel to the program. I do not believe we would be able to join them as Japanese citizens, especially since there is no official citizenship records for our Senshi identities." Setsuna stopped briefly and looked directly at Usagi, "This has been due for some time Princess. I knew you didn't want this yet, so I held off as long as I could. It is time to claim your throne."

Turning to look at Usagi herself, Makoto realized that she was looking rather pale.

Hanging silently above the Indian Ocean, a craft larger than any that had yet traveled to earth prepared to land.

[A/N] Yeah, I update slow. Actually, it's thanks to edboy that I finished. I'd put everything on hold while house-hunting, and now that I have a place I'd been lazy about resuming... his review reminded me to wrap this bit up. More short scenes, character introductions and such. If anyone is wondering I've been using this story to experiment with narrative perspective. The "camera angle" changes from section to section, the X-com battle is broken into direct observation and watching over someone's shoulder while they in turn watch the battle. I've been using this story as a testbed for some things. One of the other things I've been playing with in this one is the brevity of the scenes. I keep hearing from books and podcasts about writing that you want to enter the scene late and leave early. I'm not sure if this is too short though, some feedback would be awesome. Next time: The coronation of a queen and a city under siege. Also probably longer scenes...


	3. Chapter 3

Children of the Sky Chapter 03

The hum of computers and the glow of monitors provided little distraction for (Commander name) as he stood watching the large mission display monitor. It currently displayed a wire-frame political map of the earth, rotating with the daylight. For the moment it was pleasantly clean, but this was precisely what worried him.

He knew that the two craft that his people had found and shot down were just the tip of the iceberg. He knew there had to be more alien craft out there. Now if only they could find them. Ground based RADAR stations topside were feeding information from the entire West coast into his systems, and he only had one kill to the program's name so far. The recovery had gone well, if a little high on the casualties. It was a positive gold mine on enemy intel however.

Several alien weapons and devices had been recovered, as well as part of the crashed ship. He only had a portion of his eventual science team on base, but they were already working on reverse engineering the alien's equipment. Hopefully, some of it could be reproduced here on earth, and we can at least even out the tech gap. 'At least Zheng's boys are working on the last expansions to the base. It's still a little crowded down here.' His musing was interrupted by a flash of red on the screen.

"Possible alien sighting in New Dehli. Attempting to confirm." The accented speech was a clear reminder to the commander that his forces were drawn from all over the world. Activity in Mission Control had picked up quickly with the possible contact. "Contact report confirmed, Alien activity in New Dehli. Reports are confused, it's chaos over there!"

This was the moment they had all been waiting for, a clear attack to thwart. Without hesitation, (commander name)'s voice rang out across the room. "Prep the strike team in the Skyranger. Alpha team is go." Despite the rush that followed his orders, he knew that it would take hours before the ground team could reach the city. He began to pray for the souls he knew they wouldn't be in time to save.

At the same time, eight young girls interrupted what they were doing to answer a persistently beeping communicator. Despite the urgency of the summons, it took everyone time to meet up. Excuses had to be crated, and parents had to be escaped. Each of them had butterflies in their stomach as they linked hands for the teleport ritual. Sailor Pluto had told them where to go, and had gone on ahead. Power channeled, the ring of girls began to float in the air, glowing steadily brighter. With a loud cry of "Sailor Teleport" they rose swiftly into the air and Flashed across the sky to the west.

The landing was almost a perfect reverse of the departure. The group touched down in the middle of an intersection. What had once been a vibrant city was now a ruined husk. Craters, abandoned vehicles, and rubble were strewn about. As the girls got their bearings, they noticed the still forms of people who had been covered in some kind of green slime. That was when the smell hit them. A few of the girls emptied their stomachs, and even the ever composed Sailor Neptune was looking decidedly queasy.

Pushing past the instinctual revulsion, the senshi of Mercury had retrieved her computer and was scanning the nearest form thoroughly. She found no hope of reviving the person, who had almost been...digested by the slime before it hardened. As glanced back at her comrades she felt the pleading gaze of Sailor moon, and shook her head no. Tears gathered at the edges of her leader's eyes, before she swallowed and visibly pushed her feelings aside.

"Where are they now? We can't let anyone else be killed like this!" For all the resolve in her face, Sailor Moon's voice betrayed the despair at having lost so many already. Seconds passed like hours as Mercury consulted her computer again. Frowning again, she pushed more buttons. Looking back at Sailor Moon, she gestured north along the deserted street.

"I'm getting movement from that direction, but something is scrambling the results of my scan and I cant tell what is moving." Another apologetic look at the others accompanied that statement. It's only reply however were a series of determined nods.

Turning north, Sailor Moon stared into the distance as if she could see the creatures who did this. "Lets go then." The group took of along the street, occasionally leaping into the air to clear obstacles.

The flight had taken six hours already. The Skyranger was a top of the line military transport, but it wasn't going to break any speed records. The well armored vehicle was capable of a full combat drop, but the ability to fly with such thick armor came with a price. It was still several hours until drop, and alpha team was catching some sleep before the battle.

(Team Leader's name) was surprised when the co-pilot opened the door to the cockpit with a headset in hand. "Call from Mission control for you sir." he said offering the headset to him. Taking the headset he shot a puzzled glance at the flier before slipping on the headset and switching it on.

"Go ahead Mission Control, this is Alpha one, over." The familiar static of an open radio line sounded in his ears for a second before he heard a response.

"Alpha one, be advised there are some strange reports coming out of the city. Local comm chatter is being intercepted and reports of resistance in the city are filtering out. A UAV launched from the USS Kittyhawk has footage of widespread panic, fires, and what looks like flashes of light from the northern quadrant of the city. Recommend you begin your response there, over."

So they weren't taking the invasion lying down, good for them. "Acknowledged Mission control, will begin operations in the northern half of the city. Alpha one out." shooting another glance at the co-pilot he received a nod in reply. Good, they were listening in, one less thing to worry about.

The Headset cut in again. "Godspeed Alpha team, Mission control out." The background static disappeared as the connection was cut at the source. Removing and handing back the headset, (Team leader's name) pondered this latest development. If there were friendly combatants in the zone his boys would have to be a little more careful to avoid friendly fire. The only dead bodies he wanted to bring home this time were E.T.'s.

Operations had been proceeding smoothly. Specimens were taken, any who resisted had been slain The Mind was satisfied. The first sign that something was wrong was when a harvest team was interrupted by a loud voice. Locating the source as a human standing on top of a small structure the Mind was momentarily given pause at the different mental wavelengths emanating from this human. The brief period of time allowed the human to give a speech, the gist of which was an announcement of hostilities. The members of the harvest team were sent scurrying for cover. Combat units began moving to the site in the event that the weapons of the harvest team were insufficient.

Sailor Moon was feeling a little embarrassed as she watched the creatures run for cover. Her typical introduction speech seemed to have no effect but to let the bad guys know where she was. The green beams fired her way missed as she jumped down to the street level. As she was doing this however, a shout of "Mars Flame Sniper" echoed from the rooftop she had just left. A streak of fire flew down and exploded against the car that one of the monsters had used as cover. An inhuman screech sounded as the creature ran the five meters to the dumpster in the alley and resumed firing. Cries of "Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" and "Jupiter Oak Evolution" announced attacks upon other creatures who had found cover on the other side of the street.

Neptune Uranus and Saturn could be seen running forwards to engage a pair of creatures firing out of a nearby shop window. When their fire had shifted to their attackers, they split up, with Uranus jumping left, Neptune right, and Saturn holding her glaive before her crying out "Silence Wall!" The green beams splashed harmlessly against the mystical shield as a pair of attacks angled in from the sides to wipe them out.

Half the creatures had been killed but the rest had now had time to get to good firing positions and were spraying green beams back at the Senshi. Near misses caused the girls to back off and take cover of their own. Suddenly a brace of roses flew down from behind and above the aliens and impacted in their weapons, causing them to short circuit and explode. Sailor Moon stopped to gaze lovingly at Tuxedo Kamen, his cape billowing in the wind from the blast.

Suddenly a snap shot by the final remaining alien hit a distracted Sailor Moon in the belly. She let off a scream as she fell to the ground. Her attacker was swarmed by retaliation attacks from six of the others, while Saturn and Tuxedo Kamen rushed to the side of their Queen. Relief shone in their eyes as Sailor Moon picked herself up from the ground, a nasty looking burn on her uniform the only trace of damage. "Owwwwie! That hurt!" The blonde complained.

"Are you all right Sailor Moon?" Sailor Saturn's voice was steady despite the worry on her face. She took a long look at the burn mark on Sailor Moon's stomach before she relaxed. It looked worse than it really was she decided. It hadn't even penetrated the bodysuit.

Resting her hand on Sailor Saturn's shoulder, Sailor Moon shook her head. "I'm fine, thanks. Just don't get hit by one of those things, it really hurts!" The mood was short lived as an alarm sounded on the Mercury computer.

With everyone's attention on her, Sailor Mercury opened her mini-computer and her face set itself in a grim line. "There is movement heading this way, I'd guess they called for help. They will be here in a few seconds."

Sailor Moon looked at the destruction the short battle had wrought on the street and made a decision. "Everyone get behind something, when they come out into the open, we blast them." The Senshi each looked around and leaped behind some obstacle peering out watching the street for signs of movement. They were not disappointed.

Dashing from cover to cover, more aliens like the ones they had fought before arrived. One pair held back while the other pair moved forwards. The pair in back chittered and sent some sort of glowing beam at the pair who were investigating the battleground. The beam settled into a diffuse glow around the pair as they checked the bodies of their fallen kin.

"NOW!" Sailor Moon's cry was followed with the casting of attacks from the hiding places of the Senshi. Elemental attacks flew in towards the two glowing aliens. Explosions clouded sight briefly, but the green beams coming out of the cloud surprised them. Had they missed? Jupiter, Uranus and Tuxedo Kamen Charged into the dust cloud, evading the unaimed attacks coming out of it. Unable to see clearly, they jumped into the air to clear the zone of fire. Extending his cane, Tuxedo Kamen swept the area the blasts seemed to come from and felt resistance. Noticing the cane had stopped the other two sent spells to the ground, Following the cane's guidance like a targeting laser. Two explosions sounded and the return fire ceased as the creature roared. A third explosion sounded just before the trio landed on the far side of the dust cloud.

Looking around to see what had happened, Sailor Uranus cursed to see the dumpster that had been shielding her partner was on it's side with a large hole blasted through what was now the top. Thankfully Neptune wasn't there. An abandoned car twenty feet farther up the road was cored by an energy beam. Catching fire it's flickering light cast across the battlefield.

Taking cover in the front of a nearby shop she searched for the new threat. Hearing the soft pulsing hum before she saw it, a large floating machine came into view. All pointed and angular bits of metal, the thing fired again at the alley where Mercury and Mars had taken cover. Wasting no thought on herself, Uranus stepped out of the shop's broken front window and shouted, "World Shaking" The ringed ball of energy flew down the street and impacted on the left fin of the metal monster. Seeing that it's primary effect was to jostle it's aim and spoil it's next shot, she set up for another attack when suddenly she was grabbed by Sailor Jupiter and flung away. Just as Jupiter dove to follow an explosion cratered the sidewalk where she had been standing. Ears ringing eve with the protection of her transformation, Uranus glanced at Jupiter and saw she was having trouble getting up.

The smell of smoke and dead bodies was familiar. The stealthy advance into the northern sector of the city was by the book. His squad had paired up and was making a leapfrog advance toward the sound of explosions. The hope was that they would be relieving friendlies. The fear was that they would be too late. Checking quickly, Sergeant Mathers, formerly of her magisty's Special Air Service, waved to his squad-mate as he ran hunched over to the next alleyway. Turning to cover the movements of the team behind him he saw a flash out of the corner of his eye. Even from around the corner, the blast wave buffeted him. Catching the eye of Corporal Hicks, formerly of the U.S. Army Rangers, he pointed at his eyes and then the corner the explosion had come from.

A nod his only reply as Hicks crawled off, he again turned to Cover the squads advance. The Yanks may have been a bit smug over hosting this little operation, but at least the people they had sent with him were skilled. Les than ten seconds later, the squad had moved forward enough that he could turn and watch Hick's back as well.

Not that he needed it, he was already returning to Mather's position. Crouching before them, he relayed his findings in a low voice. "Several hostiles moving towards the explosion site, they are engaged with someone on the far side."

The Lieutenant had joined them during the report. Nodding he signaled the two snipers to the roof of the building and motioned for the rest to spread out along the alleyway ready to flank the aliens. As the pair of snipers shimmied up the drainpipes to the roof, the soldier on point crept towards the corner himself. Pulling a hand mirror out of a pouch he Checked around the corner. He saw a handful of the creatures the eggheads had dubbed Sectoids along with what looked like two humans. Slowly moving forward until he had reached the archway of a cafe entrance, the Soldier waited until two more soldiers had gotten out of the alley and into cover behind abandoned vehicles before drawing a bead on one of the Sectoids and opening fire.

Almost in unison he was joined by the entire squad of soldiers. Three of the aliens shook under the impact of bullets. The remaining Sectoid dove into the dubious cover of a nearby motorbike. The two that looked human performed a leap that would have been impossible for a real human as they drew their weapons. Having been spared the initial sneak attack, they found positions behind abandoned vehicles and began to return fire. Craters appeared in the corner of the building to the left of the alley mouth, each hit raining dust and debris on the solder behind it. Peeking out during a break in the bombardment he was able to spot one being taken down, presumably by a sniper, before the Sectoid exposed himself for a clear shot. The last thing he saw was the green glow of incoming plasma fire. The Sectoid joined him in death a split second later as a pair of P-90s cut him in half.

The final alien had taken cover behind a delivery truck that offered no line of sight to the snipers above. He had traded fire with a pair of soldiers that tried to approach his right flank, but all it managed to do was prevent them from getting a good shot. At a hand motion from the mission commander, one ran forward to the other side of the truck and rolled a primed grenade underneath it. Shielded by the bulk of the truck as he ran back to cover, he escaped unharmed. The same could not be said for his target. It's body was thrown from it's hiding place into the street, where it lay still.

After confirming his man was dead, Mathers shook his head at the Lieutenant. His message understood, he stripped the downed soldier of ammunition and his unused grenade. They might still need them tonight.

Sailor Venus slowly opened her eyes. She wasn't quite certain, but something told her she was not at home in her bed. If only that high pitched sound would go away she could think better. At least the fires nearby were keeping her warm. A flash of red in the corner of her eye drew her attention. Turning her head hurt, but she felt a happy sort of floaty feeling as she recognized Sailor Mars throwing fire out of the alley and into the street.

'Wait a minute...That doesn't sound right... why am I happy Rei is burning things?' Turning her head the other direction, she saw what Sailor Mars was attacking. It looked like those aliens from the American TV shows. Small and gray with enormous eyes and the tiniest arms. She probably would have tried to take one home as a pet if it wasn't for the guns attached to their arms.

'Aliens...gun arms...Oh crap!' Her brain finally fighting through the fog of concussion, Sailor Venus Scrambled back behind the dumpster. She has stepped out of cover to attack the big silver machine, and been caught completely unprotected when it had exploded violently. A split second later green bolts followed her across the alley causing the street to glow wherever they hit.

Taking a moment to gather her bearings, Venus jumped two floors straight up and landed on the metal fire escape. It looked like the bad guys might be running out of minions this time, because they were down to about ten or so down the street on the left and they had stopped showing up about two minutes ago. Well she hoped they had. She took the opportunity to fire a crescent beam at one of the tall thin ones that wasn't as well protected as the rest, only to dive rather ungracefully as half the aliens decided she would make a very nice target.

They were down to five active combatants, no fatalities thankfully but every time they thought they were getting a handle on things a new batch would show up from somewhere and get a few shots into one of them. Rolling out and behind a burnt out car Venus saw Pluto picking off one of the aliens who had stayed in the open to shoot for a moment too long. 'Nine left!' She thought. 'Only nine to go and we can go home and this will be over.'

Suddenly there came loud noises from behind the aliens. Only three of the Senshi recognized the sounds, but the speedy death of the aliens in the back made it clear to the rest it was a very good sound indeed. Now too few to effectively fight back the remaining aliens were quickly taken down. Emerging from the smoke walked two dozen soldiers.

It almost ruined the moment when Sailor Pluto stepped forward and spoke in perfect English. "You're right on time."

A/N I told you it wasn't dead... It is amazing how life seems to get in the way isn't it? Still I want you to know I have not given up on this. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


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